


Fear and Loathing in Orlando

by its_feldspar



Category: NXT, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Florida, Gen, Kayfabe Compliant, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 09:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20776580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_feldspar/pseuds/its_feldspar
Summary: Adam Cole steals hotel soaps and hangs out with the boys.Sunshine State Shenanigans





	Fear and Loathing in Orlando

Adam Cole stole all the toiletries from the bathroom, shoved the tiny plastic bottles into his pocket as he snuck out the door into the humid morning and called Bobby as he made his way down the exterior staircase.

“Hullo?”

“Hey Bobby, I need a ride.”

Bobby yawned loud on the line and said “Sure thing, we can come get you. But we're gonna have to pick up Roddy first.”

“Why do you have to pick up Roddy?”

“It's his car?”

“Why do you have Roddy's car?” 

"Because we took it."

"What?"

“Well -”

“You know what, nevermind. I don't wanna fuckin’ know.” Adam sighed “Just come pick me up.”

“Yeah, you at your place?”

“Nah. I was at the, uh...” Adam checked the name of the place, printed on the bottle of shampoo that he had taken. “One of the motels by Universal. But I just left.”

“Nice! The Panama City Playboy does it again, huh?”

“You know it baybay. Anyway, can you pick me up at the CVS on Conroy?”

“Yeah, sure, that works. Okay. We'll be there in… two hours, probably?”

It was a good thing that Adam hadn't been in the middle of crossing the road because he stopped, shocked, and almost shouted “The fuck? Two hours? It does not take two hours for you to get from your place to Conroy.”

“Like I said, we've gotta pick up Roddy.”

“How fuckin’ heavy is Roddy that it's gonna take you two hours to pick him up?”

Bobby laughed, sounding much more amused than Adam would have liked. “Well, first I gotta wake up Kyle -”

“Uh huh.”

“And then we gotta go swing by to hit up EC3.”

“What?” Adam closed his eyes. Rubbed at the aching place in the middle of his forehead. “Why. Why do you need to hit up EC3?”

“Kyle says he owes him twenty bucks.”

“You can't just ‘swing by’ and hit up EC3. He's not here any more.”

“Oh shit, that's right, he got called up didn't he. Looks like Kyle's not getting his twenty bucks bac-” Bobby was cut off by a series of thumping noises in the background, one particularly loud bang sounded suspiciously like someone knocking over a dresser, followed by four sequential thuds as the drawers slid out. 

“Oh, speaking of. Kyle's up.” Bobby said

“Just come get me.”

“Who's that?” Kyle's voice could be heard, distant and tinny in the background

“It's Adam.”

“Hey Adam!” Kyle shouted, loud enough to be heard even before the sound quality on the call changed. For the worse.

“Hey Adam, I put you on speakerphone.” 

“Hey Adam!” Kyle shouted again as the noise of someone struggling against particle board furniture was suddenly amplified, and the fact that Adam could identify that by sound was a testament to how long he had been in the business.

“Stop putting me on speakerphone. And stop fucking around with that dresser. Just come pick me up.”

Adam hung up the phone, but not before he heard Kyle say in the background

“How did he know about the dresser?”

\---

“Here I've been, standing outside the CVS, sweating like an asshole.” Adam adjusted the vents so the tepid air blasted him in the face. “When I guess could have been sitting in a car, sweating like an asshole. Get your fuckin’ air conditioning fixed Roddy, Jesus.”

“I'm working on it.”

“That’s neat Roddy. I didn't know you could fix cars.” Kyle said from the back, his words somewhat mangled by the wet sounds of chewing.

“I’m not working on it myself.” Roddy snapped “I meant I'm working on getting it in to the shop.”

“Well work a little harder. This fuckin’ blows.”

"Unlike Roddy's cold air."

“Har, har.”

“Yeah, Roddy. We're the Undisputed Era, we can't be rolling around in some busted whip.” 

“Are we going to go? Or are you going to just keep breaking my balls?”

“By all means.” Adam swept a hand towards the exit of the parking lot. “It already took you long enough to get here.”

“We had to stop and get gas.”

“It couldn't wait?”

“Nah.”

“Roddy's car was, like, on fumes.” Kyle started chewing again.

Adam could smell something else under the slick motor oil scent, a sea-tang that he should not have been smelling at ten in the morning in Roddy's car. 

“And whose fault is that? The tank was half full when we went out last night, where did you assholes even go?”

“We were looking for EC3.”

“Didn't he get moved up to the main -"

“Hold up.” Adam said, turning around to stare at Kyle in the backseat. “Kyle?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you eating?

Kyle, whose mouth was full, lifted the plastic clamshell container off his lap so that Adam could see it. Shook the thing back and forth a little bit as for emphasis, as if Adam were not already disappointingly aware of what was inside.

“No.” Adam Cole didn't get hungover, but he felt the remains of the jaegerbombs in his stomach start to sizzle as he watched the bits of pale meat jumble around through the clear lid. “I want to hear you say it. What are you eating.”

Kyle had the decency to at least finish chewing before he answered. “Shrimp.”

“Which you got from…”

“He got 'em when we stopped for gas.” Bobby supplied, at the same time the Kyle answered

“The 7-11.”

Adam stared at them.

“What?”

“You say that like you're not even ashamed of yourself.”

“Tastes fine to me.” 

"Does it. Does it _ really _."

"Yep. Just tastes like shrimp." Kyle shrugged “Nothing wrong with some gas station shrimp.” 

“Gotta love that. Gas! Station! Shramp!”

Bobby said, and Kyle grinned as he reopened the container and popped another one in his mouth. 

\---

Matt Riddle shifted his balance on the longboard, the wheels clacking across the cracks in the asphalt as his skateboard described long lazy curves back and forth in the lot behind the Performance Center. The Undisputed Era watched him from where they were posted up on the edge of the loading dock, not avoiding William Regal.

"Look at this asshole."

Riddle took a long drink from his slurpee as he coasted past. Raised his free hand to flip them off. For a second Adam could see his face bisected by that middle finger in the reflection of Riddle's mirrored aviators, the only thing that he was wearing besides a pair of yellow trunks.

"Put some clothes on!" Bobby shouted after him "We're not at the beach."

"Life's a beach, bro." Riddle called out, banking back towards the loading dock.

"There's no beach in Orlando."

"I think one of those Disney resorts has a fake beach. Does that count?"

"No."

"Check this out bros." Matt said. He stepped off the board as he rolled in front of them, took a step, then caught the underside of the board with his heel. It flipped over once and he hopped to land back in the deck. "Ghostride heelflip."

"Whoa."

"That was kinda cool actually."

"Shut the fuck up, don't encourage him."

"The fuck're you doing, Riddle?"

"Why are you wearing those trunks out here?"

"Why does your gear make you look like a lifeguard"

"Isn't it illegal to pretend to be a lifeguard? Isn't it like…"

"Impersonating a police officer?"

"Yeah, like that."

"Nah bro."

“You're not even a lifeguard.” Roddy sniped

“I'm guarding your life right now, bro.”

"Fuck you."

"From what?"

“You're not even a real lifeguard.” Roddy said, again.

“Bro.” Matt leaned back to look up at the shaggy palm trees at the edge of the building. “Like, what even really is _ real _, you know what I mean, bro?”

“You couldn't be a lifeguard." Roddy's glare reflected right back at him in Matt's sunglasses, the curve of the mirrored lenses distorted his sneer like pulled taffy as Matt turned to look back at them. "You couldn't pass the drug test.”

“Hah, you couldn't pass the drug test to work at Publix bro.”

“Wouldn't it be the same drug test?”

“They don't drug test at Publix.” Kyle supplied

“How do you know?”

“I asked when I was filling out the application.”

"You applied to work at Publix?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I needed a job?" Kyle said, like Adam was the dumb one.

"Is your contract that shitty? I thought NXT was taking care of you boys."

"Yeah, they are."

Adam took a deep breath. Let it out. "Then why. Did you apply. To work. At Publix."

"Ooooooh" comprehension dawned as Kyle continued "Nah, you were confused. This was, like, years ago."

“So did you get the job?” Bobby asked

“No.” Kyle kicked his heels against the edge of the loading dock, glum as he looked down at the asphalt. “They never called me back.”

"Bro."


End file.
